"Was I outmaneuvered…?"
Hanami gritted her teeth, her barely discernible wooden face twisting with frustration.
"So that's how it is. I should have anticipated this. I grew complacent because I kept seizing the initiative… But at least there's one piece of good news. You're the one who can heal Kokichi's body, aren't you? The one he mentioned earlier?"
"What if I am?"
"Then that means Mahito is still alive in your hands! You used some method to control him, didn't you? Am I wrong?"
"Hmm…?"
Roy tilted his head slightly in confusion, momentarily failing to grasp the logic behind her words.
Then, realization dawned on him.
"Ah, I see. You think I manipulated Mahito and used his technique to heal Kokichi, don't you? Heh. Well, if that's what you want to believe, I won't stop you. Suit yourself."
"But yes, Mahito is indeed in my possession, and he's still alive. You can try your hardest—give it 1000%—to defeat me and rescue him, if you want?"
Roy smiled leisurely, his expression brimming with disdain for Hanami's strength.
Maybe if you go ten times beyond your limits, you might stand a chance.
His words carried the effortless confidence of the strong.
"I don't need you to tell me that!"
With a furious motion, Hanami unwrapped the cloth binding her left arm.
As the fabric fluttered to the ground, her left arm was revealed to Roy for the first time.
It was pitch black, yet paradoxically reflected bizarre, shifting hues—like a chaotic blend of spilled paints stirred into a vat of ink, creating a grotesque, multicolored darkness.
But the most striking feature was the flower bud drooping lifelessly from her left shoulder, as if parasitically attached. Its bowed posture gave the impression of something dormant.
"I didn't want to resort to this… but I have no choice!"
With her left arm's seal released, Hanami slammed her grotesquely dark palm onto the ground.
In that instant, the grass, shrubs, and trees within dozens of meters around her withered in mere seconds—their leaves yellowing, their branches shriveling, even the once-plump trunks drying into husks.
"Absorbing the life force of nearby plants? How fitting for a cursed spirit. Forcibly draining vitality like this—couldn't be more characteristic of your kind's cruelty."
Roy rolled his neck, letting out a cold chuckle.
"And then what? Will absorbing all that life force boost your strength by 1000%?"
"Don't lump me in with you humans!"
As if provoked by his words, Hanami's lips curled downward, her face contorting with unrestrained fury.
As if in response to her emotions, jagged streaks of blue lightning erupted beneath her feet, branching outward like roots.
The crackling energy coiled around her legs, as if forcibly shattering the limits of her body. In that moment, power beyond her natural limits surged through her limbs!
Roy narrowed his eyes as Hanami's foot flashed with crackling electricity, propelling her forward like lightning. In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance between them, her leg arcing toward his side in a blue-electrified kick.
"You humans are nature's greatest enemy!" Hanami's voice rang out.
Electricity? Since when did Hanami possess such power? The speed was incredible!
Roy instinctively raised his left arm to block. The impact was substantial, fueled by her momentum, but not enough to stagger him. However, upon contact, a surge of blinding blue electricity erupted from Hanami's foot, flooding through Roy's body as if trying to electrocute him from within.
The shock coursed through his limbs, causing temporary paralysis. For a fleeting moment, his body felt alien—neural signals misfiring, rendering him unable to execute commands from his brain.
"You humans recklessly deforest, dump waste into oceans, and with your ever-burgeoning population, spread your destructive reach to every corner of the earth!" Hanami seized the opportunity, launching a relentless assault. Punches, kicks, conjured trees hurled like projectiles, wooden cages to trap him, disorienting flower fields underfoot, parasitic seeds that latched onto cursed energy—each attack came in rapid succession, a tidal wave of offense meant to overwhelm. "You're deaf to this planet's cries, but I hear them! Only by eradicating humanity can Earth reclaim its former beauty—"
"Enough of your damn lecturing!" Roy's voice cut through like a blade.
Suddenly, like a horror movie jump-scare, Roy—who had been weathering the storm of attacks—snapped his head up. A cold, mocking grin spread across his face as he powered through the crackling electricity. With a single earth-shattering punch, he tore through the air and struck Hanami square in the chest, sending her flying.
"You get a little advantage and suddenly think you're hot shit? At the end of the day, you're just a cursed spirit—barely a step above a common pest. Don't flatter yourself into thinking you're some planetary ambassador."
Hanami hit the ground hard but quickly flipped back onto her feet, drawing vitality from surrounding plants to heal the dent in her chest. She stared at Roy in disbelief.
"...Not a single scratch? Impossible!"
She had thrown everything at him—every technique, every ounce of power. Physical strikes should've left wounds, and if he'd defended with cursed energy, her parasitic seeds would've sapped his strength dry. The more he resisted, the deeper they'd have rooted, until he collapsed powerless. Yet here he stood, utterly unfazed.
"Your strength just isn't enough, that's all."
Roy curled his lips into a mocking grin.
"I can see you've been working hard, even managed to acquire some lightning power from somewhere. But what a shame—your attacks are too soft, barely more than a tickle to me."
Hanami wasn't a curse spirit specialized in offensive power.
Among the four cursed spirits, she primarily played a support role, with the advantage of having an extremely tough and durable body.
The real offensive powerhouse was Jogo, that volcano-headed curse.
If Jogo had come instead, with his sheer offensive capability unleashing attacks indiscriminately, even Roy wouldn't have been able to withstand them with his bare body.
"One more thing—don't misunderstand. It's not that I couldn't resist your lightning. I just sensed something off about it, so I deliberately let you control me to get a closer look."
Roy casually shook his arm, where faint crackles of electricity still sparked along his left forearm.
But those sparks had virtually no effect on his control.
"Your lightning isn't a cursed technique."
"It must be a cursed energy trait—a manipulation of cursed energy achieved through some method, where the energy itself takes on the properties of lightning—"
Hanami gritted her teeth.
Gathering cursed energy beneath her feet, she turned and dashed into the forest behind her.
With the lightning's enhancement, her speed became astonishingly fast, allowing her to sprint through the woods as if it were nothing.
"This guy... he figured out the source of my power in just a brief exchange! There's no way... Alone, I can't even hope to defeat him, let alone escape from him. I have no choice but to do this!"
After all, she had only obtained that cursed object two months ago.
No matter how hard she trained, without years of accumulated experience, she couldn't possibly unleash its full power.
Deep down, she had always known she was no match for Roy. The battle in Okubo five months ago had already proven that—even three of them together couldn't win, let alone her alone.
But she had just acquired this power and had only recently confirmed Mahito's whereabouts. The thought of retreating without trying left her with too much frustration, so she gave it a shot.
And the result was worse than not trying at all.
Now, the only option was to bring out that guy himself!
"She's fast at running away!"
Hanami's swift and decisive escape left Roy momentarily stunned.
But he quickly gave chase, heading in the direction she had fled.
"She's not running toward the barrier?"
Roy watched Hanami ahead, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
He had assumed she would try to infiltrate the barrier, locate the students participating in the exchange event, and take them hostage to deal with him—maybe even use them to force him to release Mahito.
But Hanami didn't do that.
It wasn't that the idea hadn't crossed her mind.
But she had no idea where the students were. Wandering around blindly to find them would only waste time, and Roy might capture her before she could secure any hostages.
So, she had no choice but to head in another direction.
Straight toward Jujutsu High's main gate!
There were several sorcerers there she knew for certain would be present—and they wouldn't be on guard against her, allowing her to take them down immediately!
After all, they had no emotional ties with curse users. Collaborating with them was merely a matter of mutual exploitation—even if they died, no one would bat an eye.
"What kind of stimulants did this guy take?"
Roy was chasing Hanami from behind. The distance was indeed closing, but he couldn't catch up immediately.
"Her cursed energy seems about twice as strong as last time. And this special cursed energy with lightning—how did she achieve that?"
The massive cursed energy strengthened her body, and the lightning further enhanced it, allowing her to run so fast.
This guy was already skilled at concealing her presence. If Roy slacked off even slightly, he might lose her.
"Let's see what tricks you're trying to pull!"
Roy smirked, gathering cursed energy into his legs, instantly increasing his speed another notch!
The distance between them was visibly shrinking!
...
Within the grounds of Jujutsu High, pavilions and towers were scattered everywhere.
Although there were plenty of reinforced concrete buildings like the school building, more were traditional-style wooden structures. However, in many corners, there were also low, prefabricated houses that gave off an old, neglected vibe at first glance, their walls weathered by wind and rain.
"Same as always, thinking that hiding the entrance behind these unremarkable little warehouses will keep it concealed. Still playing the same old game after all these years, Tengen."
A long-haired young man in a Geto-style kasaya strolled leisurely through the school grounds, his steps light and familiar, as if returning to a long-lost hometown. A mocking smile played on his lips.
Jujutsu High's barrier detected cursed energy reactions.
If it sensed a curse's cursed energy, it would block it. But if it was a sorcerer's cursed energy, it wouldn't react at all.
Since sorcerers could come to Jujutsu High at any time—to hand over missions or request backup—if everyone had to enter the barrier in a fixed way, that method would eventually be discovered by enemies, rendering it meaningless. So, the barrier simply didn't react to sorcerers.
Thus, even curse users could enter Jujutsu High with ease.
However, unfamiliar cursed energy reactions would be detected by the barrier's master—Tengen—who could remotely observe the intruder and notify Yaga Masamichi to handle it. Moreover, with sorcerers constantly coming and going, and heavyweights like Gojo Satoru and Roy stationed there, no curse user dared to barge into Jujutsu High recklessly—it would be no different from suicide.
So, Kenjaku entered the school grounds without any hindrance.
Coincidentally, Jujutsu High's main forces were preoccupied with the invading curses and curse users, leaving few capable sorcerers behind. Right now, he might as well be walking through an empty fortress.
He moved through the school, not aimlessly, but with a clear destination in mind.
Before long, he arrived at an inconspicuous warehouse tucked away in a corner of the grounds.
He opened the warehouse door.
What lay beyond was no dusty, long-abandoned storage space.
Instead, it was an underground expanse of unimaginable scale.
Below stretched a vast forest, where trees easily reached heights of ten or twenty meters. It was impossible to tell how long they had grown there—everywhere were giant trees so thick it would take two people to encircle them, making one feel as if they'd suddenly stepped into a tropical rainforest.
The warehouse door seemed to float in midair.
And in fact, the gate did appear in midair.
"Jujutsu High is filled with countless barriers, each connected to different spaces. These spaces are constantly shifting, and no one knows which one leads to the underground."
Kenjaku leaped lightly through the gate, landing on the soil below.
"But if you find the right path and follow it downward, you'll reach the true heart of Japan's jujutsu world—the Star Corridor, Tengen's dwelling."
Kenjaku raised his head, flashing a harmless, gentle smile in a certain direction.
"You must be panicking right now, but rest assured—I'm not here for you this time, Tengen!"
All of Jujutsu High's barriers were laid by Tengen alone.
Naturally, Tengen could monitor every location and individual within these barriers.
Kenjaku also knew that the moment he stepped into this barrier, Tengen had already detected him.
But his words weren't lies meant to placate Tengen.
He truly meant them.
Now wasn't the right time to make a move against Tengen—too many preparations were still incomplete.
When everything was ready, he would come back to claim Tengen.
But not today.
He walked deeper into the ancient forest, strolling leisurely as if he were on a sightseeing trip rather than under surveillance.
"The trees are so tall, yet the path is quite open. No jungle humidity either—have you spent the last thousand years just learning gardening?"
Tengen, hiding in the underground Star Corridor, didn't dare show herself before him.
Kenjaku knew she wouldn't, so he paid her no mind.
Still, Tengen was surely summoning sorcerers from outside to protect herself. Kenjaku understood well that, given her fear of death, she would prioritize her own safety over Jujutsu High's survival.
Even if the school were destroyed, she couldn't die.
If they met face-to-face, she'd probably say something pretentiously noble like that.
Just to be safe, he'd finish what he came here to do first.
Kenjaku wandered through the forest for a while before spotting a small, inconspicuous warehouse in another unremarkable corner—smaller than the average rural household.
The moment he opened the warehouse door, two figures lunged at him in unison.
With a bored sigh, Kenjaku didn't even move before the two collapsed to the ground. He casually summoned a cursed spirit, which promptly crushed their heads to pulp.
"The guards of the Vault are pathetically weak. Are you so confident in your barriers that you think no one can find this place? A thousand years, and still no progress!"
Kenjaku scoffed and stepped into the unassuming little warehouse.
The Vault of Jujutsu High, as the name suggested, was a repository for cursed objects—indestructible cursed tools, valuable cursed artifacts, and the like.